THOMAS JEFFERSON'S MORAL DIPLOMACY

Abstract

Thomas Jefferson, as author of the Declaration of Independence, emissary to France, Secretary of State, and President of the United States, was consistent in his view that US foreign relations must rest on moral values rooted in the country's civil religion. Though not sectarian or orthodox, Jefferson believed in God as creator, in humans as moral agents, and that Christ was the pinnacle of moral teachers. Jefferson's faith shaped his conception of American national identity and his regard for the rest of the world. These moral underpinnings are evident in Jefferson's actions (and professed rationales for those actions) in the Tripolitan War, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Embargo of 1807.